16 PIEEOrOBIDJi. 



iinger ; wing-membrane attached to the back of the first phalanx 

 of the second toe ; tail none ; intcrfemoral membrane deeply emar- 

 ginate behind, in some species scarcely developed in the centre : 

 penis with a distinct bone. 



T^ • • T 4 1—1 3—3 2—2 * 



Dentition. Inc. j, c. j^j, pm. 3^3, m. g-^*. 



Upper incisors in a semicircular row, in a plane anterior to and 

 separated on each side from the canines ; lower outer incisors close 

 to the canines, tlie inner pair generally separated by a slight interval 

 and smaller ; first upper premolars generally very small and deci- 

 duous (larger than the middle lower incisors in Pt. leucopterus and 

 Pt. molossinus only). 



Skull elongated, the cranio-facial axis almost in the same right 

 line, the brain-case but slightly vaulted and raised above the face- 

 line, with (in most species) a prominent sagittal crest ; facial portion 

 compressed ; cerebral cavity contracted in front ; frontals small, 

 with long postorljital processes, the bases of which are pierced by a 

 foramen ; premaxillaries small, close together in front; bony palate 

 produced backwards behind the last molar almost as far as the 

 middle of the zygomatic arches ; basioccipital wide between the 

 auditory buUce oftsem ; paroccipital processes long. 



Banije. From the Comoro Islands in the Mozambique Channel to 

 the Navigators' Islands in the Pacific Ocean, extending throughout 

 the Malagasy Subregion, the Oriental Eegion t, and the Australian 

 Kegion (except the Sandwich Islands, Ellice's group, Gilbert's group, 

 Tokelau, the Low Archipelago, and Now Zealand). 



Pt. edwardsii is found abundant in Madagascar, in the SeycheUe 

 Islands, and in the Comoro Islands (the latter are scarcely 200 

 miles distant from the African coast), and yet not a single species of 

 this genus has been discovered in Africa (see remarks on the distri- 

 bution of the genus Pteropus in the Introduction). 



This genus includes the largest known species of Bats. In one 

 of the species, at least, the body attains a length of 12 inches, the 

 forearm of nearly 9 inches, and the outstretched wings measure 

 about 5 feet across. They are the only Bats in which the fur of the 

 back of the neck and shoulders differs conspicuously in colour and 

 quality from that of the back. In most of the species, also, a more 

 or less conspicuous tuft of thickened unctuous reddish-yellow hairs 

 (generally about half an inch in diameter) exists on either side 

 of the neck near the point of origin of the antebrachial membrane, 



* In a specimen of Pteropus medius fuom Nipal (in the collection) an addi- 

 tional last upper molar exists on both sides, so that tbe number of back teeth is 



r— T. As the number of true molars never exceeds ;r^ in any other genus of 



Ohiroptera, it appears evident that the three anterior teeth in each side of the 



upper jaw in Pieropns should be considered premolars, in which case the 



,0 



normal number of true molars would be ^—7 



t Pteropus pselaphon is found in Bonin Island, and Pt. dasymallus inhabits 

 Southern Jnpan (Kiousiou Island), which has been included doubtfully by 

 Mr. Wallace in the Palaarctic Region, and most probably really belongs to the 

 Oriental Kegion. 



